Chapter 72
"Yeah." Song Qingyuan responded, holding a white piece between his slender fingers, staring at the chessboard intently, as if thinking about how to completely strangle the black piece.
"The fire was burning fiercely, and my second brother...vomited blood." Shen Yanzhi said again.
Song Qingyuan's eyelashes trembled, and she finally raised her head and looked at him: "Your Majesty is unhappy?"
Shen Yanzhi looked at her and shook his head, but a cold arc appeared at the corner of his mouth: "I'm just wondering what he will do next."
"When a dog is desperate, it will jump over the wall. When a person is desperate, he will do the same." Song Qingyuan tapped the white piece in his hand lightly on the chessboard, cutting off the black piece's last chance of survival. "He suffered such a huge loss openly, but he couldn't say anything about his pain.
Because hoarding government salt was a serious crime, he didn't dare report it to his father. Therefore, his next revenge would inevitably come from the shadows, and would be even more ruthless and unscrupulous.
Shen Yanzhi deeply agreed. He knew his second brother too well; he was a vindictive and narrow-minded villain.
At this moment, Lin Feng walked in hurriedly. His expression was even more solemn than when he reported the fire in the salt warehouse.
"Your Highness, Master." He bowed, a hint of suppressed anger in his voice. "Rumors have begun to spread in the city..."
"Rumors?" Shen Yanzhi frowned.
"Yes." Lin Feng clenched his fist unconsciously, "Rumors say... that the fire in the eastern suburbs was... a 'poisonous plot' proposed by you, Princess. They say that as a descendant of a military family, you didn't want to help the country, but instead instigated the prince to set fire and disrupt the capital. You are worthy of death.
Some people…some people have dug up the old case of General Song, saying…like father, like daughter, the Song family is born with a rebellious nature…"
The air in the study dropped to freezing point in an instant.
Shen Yanzhi's face suddenly became darker than the night outside the window. His aura suddenly became fierce, and a cold murderous intent spread uncontrollably.
He could tolerate the Second Prince confronting him in the court, and he could tolerate him fighting with him in the business world. However, he would never allow anyone to hurt her with such despicable means!
Song Qingyuan's face paled. She had expected the Second Prince to retaliate, but she hadn't expected his methods to be so vicious. This wasn't just a simple attack from a political enemy; it was a diatribe that pierced her heart.
Tying her "crime" to that of her father is to nail her to the pillar of shame, so that she will never be able to turn over.
She wasn't afraid of being attacked by others, but she was afraid of implicating her late father, the softest and most untouchable part of her heart.
"Well, well done to Shen Yanhong!" Shen Yanzhi squeezed out a few words from between his teeth, his hands gripping the chess piece, his knuckles turning white from exerting so much force. "Did he think he could hurt me with such a despicable trick? Lin Feng!"
"I'm here!"
"Investigate! Find out the source of these rumors one by one! I'll show them what it means to cause trouble with your mouth!"
"Yes!" Lin Feng accepted the order and turned to leave.
"etc."
A cold voice sounded at this moment.
It’s Song Qingyuan.
She slowly stood up, walked to Shen Yanzhi's side, and gently placed her hand on his clenched fist.
Her fingertips were cold, but they seemed to have a strange soothing power, which calmed his anger that was about to burst out.
"Your Highness, killing people won't stop the gossip." Her voice was soft, but remarkably firm. "Since he wants to play a game of public opinion, then we will...play along with him to the end."
She raised her head and looked at Shen Yanzhi. In those eyes that were always clear and clever, a cluster of cold flames ignited at this moment.
"Didn't he say that what I offered was a 'poisonous plan'? Then I'll show him what a true, bloodless, killing strategy really is."
Rumors spread rapidly through the streets and alleys of the capital like an invisible plague.
In the teahouse, the storyteller spoke with great enthusiasm, describing the fire in the eastern suburbs in a fantastical way. At the end of the story, he would always point out the newly favored "female counselor" in the Prince of Yan's Mansion.
In the streets, gossips were spread among the people, adding more than a dozen different versions of the story about Song Qingyuan's background and her father's "treason" case.
"Have you heard? The Princess of Yan is the daughter of that traitorous General Song Xiao!"
"Oh, is this true? No wonder. With a father like that, how could he raise a good daughter? I heard that she was the one who instigated the prince to start the fire in the eastern suburbs. She's really vicious!"
"That's right! A woman, instead of staying in the backyard, insists on interfering in government affairs. Isn't this like a hen crowing at dawn, disrupting social order? I think His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan has been bewitched by this enchantress!"
"Shh...keep your voice down! Don't say that carelessly, watch out for your head!"
There is only one core idea in all the versions of the rumor: Song Qingyuan is a vicious and evil woman who brings disaster to the country and the people, while Prince of Yan, Chen Yanzhi, is a foolish prince who is bewitched by beauty and behaves in a ridiculous way.
This fire not only burned the Second Prince's private salt, but also the reputation of Prince Yan's Mansion and Song Qingyuan's innocence.
The atmosphere inside Prince Yan's mansion was so oppressive it felt like water could drip out. The servants walked on tiptoe, fearing they would accidentally anger the prince, who was on the verge of a rage.
In the study, Shen Yanzhi slammed a secret report collected by Lin Feng, which recorded various rumors, on the table, making a loud "bang" sound.
"This is too much!" His chest heaved violently, and the anger in his eyes almost solidified into substance. "Chen Yanhong is crazy! He is trying to force Qingyuan to death!"
He turned abruptly and looked at Song Qingyuan, who was slowly grinding ink beside him. His voice was filled with a hint of anxiety and heartache that he himself did not realize: "You... don't take these dirty words to heart. I will take care of it."
Song Qingyuan raised her head, her face showing no trace of sadness, but rather an unusual calmness. She looked at Shen Yanzhi, her clear eyes seeming to see through people's hearts: "Your Highness, are you planning to follow the example of Qin Shi Huang and carry out a 'burning of books and burying of scholars', arresting all those storytellers and gossipers?"
There was even a hint of ridicule in her tone.
Shen Yanzhi was choked by her, and his anger was like a punctured balloon, most of it deflated. He sat down helplessly: "Then you can't just let them slander you like this!"
"Of course not." Song Qingyuan put down the ink stick, picked up a wolf-hair brush, and wrote two words on the snow-white rice paper - "momentum" and "profit".
"Your Highness," she pointed at the words on the paper, "The Second Prince is launching this propaganda war simply to create momentum. He wants to label me a 'witch who brings disaster to the country' and you a 'foolhardic and incompetent' persona.
In this way, the loss of his salt warehouse became a merit of "eliminating harm for the people." The people are blind, they don't care about the truth, they only care about their own "profits."
Before, when salt prices skyrocketed, they complained bitterly, pointing their fingers at the imperial court and at you, the one responsible for the people's livelihood. Now, the Second Prince has given them an outlet, a specific enemy—me.
They will naturally vent all their anger on me."
Shen Yanzhi listened quietly, her analysis calm and thorough, as if the target of the attack was not herself.
He felt more and more uncomfortable. Such a delicate and exquisite person should have been held in the palm of someone's hand and protected, but now she had to accompany him and face the harsh winds and frosts in the city.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
